Meeting

Skills

Course Objectives• Explain the Importance of Effective Meetings

• Describe the Meeting Process

• Explain the Key Elements of Meeting

• Explain the Key Roles in a Meeting

• Explain What is Minutes of Meeting (MoM)

• Describe the Decision Making Approaches in Meeting

• List the Characteristics of a Good Facilitator

• Explain the Role of Active Listening in Meetings

• Explain the Various Questioning Techniques

• Explain the Role of Body Language in Meetings

• List the Challenges of Meetings

• Describe Dos and Don’ts of Meeting Etiquette

Introduction

Mark Dawson is a Project Manager in Helios Inc.

He has called a meeting of his team members.

Radium Project

He wants to discuss the progress on Radium Project, a project of developing new billing software.

Introduction

Radium Project

The meeting started off well.

Let’s begin!

However, as the meeting progressed, it was found that the discussion deviated from the progress of Radium Project.

……..……..

What about the progress on XYZ

Project ?

Mark tries his best to bring the focus of the meeting back on Radium Project but to no avail.

Let’s focus on Radium Project

for now.

XYZ Project is

……….

Yes, XYZ Project has ……

XYZ Project

……

Introduction

Radium Project

The participants in the meeting continued discussing other projects, general team related concerns and queries and other general issues.

Let’s focus on Radium Project

for now.

XYZ Project

……

……..

……. XYZ Project

The end result of the meeting was that Mark was not able to complete the discussion about the progress of Radium Project and decided to schedule another meeting again for the same.

I’ll need to reschedule the meeting again to

discuss the progress of Radium Project.

Introduction

Radium Project

• Most people think that conducting

a meeting or attending a meeting is

a very simple and straightforward

process.

• However, there are several intricacies

involved in conducting a meeting

successfully as well as involving each

participant and getting the best from each

of them in a meeting.

• It is equally important for the person

conducting a meeting to have

outstanding meeting skills as well as for

the participants to have good meeting

skills so that they can together

contribute towards making a meeting

successful.

Introduction

Radium Project

• As you have seen in the earlier example, in spite of Mark’s best

intentions to discuss the Radium Project in the meeting, the

discussion deviated towards several

other topics.

• Hence, the end purpose of a meeting will

not be met successfully if your meeting

skills are not up to the mark.

• So, let us learn about meeting skills in

detail.

Conducting Effective Meetings

People do not like to waste their time; hence running efficient and successful meetings is a key skill that every individual should learn for growing in their career. Running an effective meeting is more than sending out a notice that your team is to meet at a particular time and place. An effective meeting achieves the following:

It achieves the

meeting's objective.It takes up a minimum

amount of time.

It leaves participants feeling that a sensible process has been followed.

Did You Know?

Research has shown that:

49% of participants considered unfocused meetings and projects

as the biggest workplace time waster.

Most managers spend up to 10 hours a week in meetings and 90% believe that more

than half of that time is wasted.

Following a detailed agenda and starting on time would reduce

the time that managers spend in meetings by 80 percent.

50% of meeting time is unproductive and that up to

25% is spent discussing irrelevant issues.

Agenda items are covered in only 53% of the scheduled

time, with the remaining time as unproductive.

9 out of 10 people daydream in meetings.

Executives spend on an average of 40-50% of their

working hours in meetings.

Meeting Progress FlowThe following diagram shows the flow of the progress of a meeting:

Opening

Discussion

Concluding

Meeting Process

Follow-up:

The third step of the meeting process is the follow-up. This is done in sync with the action agenda that has been prepared after the exchange of information during the meeting. This also involves keeping track of the roles and responsibilities that were assigned to different people during the meeting.

Key Roles in a Meeting

Chairperso

n

The Chairperson is responsible for ensuring

that meetings are run effectively and

efficiently.

The chair must consider two main task

functions of the group which are as follows:

• The actions and decisions that are critical to achieve

• The maintenance functions – the relationships, welfare and

harmony of the group

Both functions are important and will affect the organization’s success.

The chair has the lead role in planning, preparing, implementing and

evaluating meetings and is responsible for starting and ending on time

and involving members in the decisions and discussions.

Minutes of MeetingA format of minutes of meeting is given below. You will notice that any minutes of meeting should include the following elements:

Minutes of Meeting Name of Organization:

Purpose of Meeting:

Date/Time:

Location:

Chair Person:

Name of Participants:

Topic Discussion Action Due dates for the completion

Person Responsible

1.

2.

Further Notes or Comments:

Name of organization

Purpose of meeting

Date and time of meeting

Location of the meeting

Name of the Chair Person

Name of participants

Topics / agenda covered

Discussion / decisions made by the participants

Follow-up actions committed by participants

Due dates for completion

Name of person responsible for each action

Other comments worth documenting for future review or history

Before the Meeting

The following should be done before the meeting:

Notify Everyone who needs to know about the Meeting

Ensure all Reports & Information are available

Send out Agenda & Background Information

prior to MeetingPlan the Agenda

Ensure all Reports & Information are available: Confirm that the required person or a suitable alternate is available to attend the meeting and make a report.

Physical Set-up of the Meeting

All your best planning efforts can be wasted if you overlook the physical surroundings of your meeting.

The following considerations of the physical set-up of a meeting will encourage participation and foster success:

Size of the room: How many people will attend the meeting? Too big a room gives an isolated feeling, and too small a room makes people feel cramped and uncomfortable.

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Let us look at each in detail.

Physical Set-up of the Meeting

Size of the room: How many people will attend the meeting? Too big a room gives an isolated feeling, and too small a room makes people feel cramped and uncomfortable.

Size of the room: How many people will attend the meeting? Too big a room gives an isolated feeling, and too small a room makes people feel cramped and uncomfortable.

At The Meeting

At the meeting, the following key points should be kept in mind for an effective meeting:

1Set the ground rules: These agreements for participant behavior will make meetings more efficient and effective. They should be discussed by the group and revisited periodically.

Some ground rules are:• Everyone has equal rights and can participate.• The will of the majority is carried out.• The minority will be heard.• Only one topic will be considered at a time.• Decision-making will be done fairly and impartially

Evaluating the MeetingSome ideas for assessing your meeting are as follows:

Have the participants complete an anonymous survey about the meeting and discuss the results.

Appoint someone to monitor the meeting process and report on it at the end. Rotate the responsibility among the members.

Before the meeting is adjourned ask, “what went well” and “what could be improved.”

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